As the value and use of information continues to increase, individuals and businesses seek additional ways to process and store information. One option available to users is information handling systems. An information handling system generally processes, compiles, stores, and/or communicates information or data for business, personal, or other purposes thereby allowing users to take advantage of the value of the information. Because technology and information handling needs and requirements vary between different users or applications, information handling systems may also vary regarding what information is handled, how the information is handled, how much information is processed, stored, or communicated, and how quickly and efficiently the information may be processed, stored, or communicated. The variations in information handling systems allow for information handling systems to be general or configured for a specific user or specific use such as financial transaction processing, airline reservations, enterprise data storage, or global communications. In addition, information handling systems may include a variety of hardware and software components that may be configured to process, store, and communicate information and may include one or more computer systems, data storage systems, and networking systems.
Information handling systems, including storage products and servers, typically have a plurality of ports or slots able to receive adapter cards. The adapter cards generally provide additional functionality to the system. Usually, the adapter cards are controlled by a single controller such as a LAN-on-motherboard (LOM). Typically, the LOM is an embedded chip on the motherboard with physical devices (PHY) including an optical time domain reflectometer (OTDR)/time domain reflectometer (TDR) and a medial access controller.
A network interface card (NIC) is one type of adapter card that is used to permit the system to interconnect or link with various devices outside the system. Because each NIC has a limited bandwidth, the system will use a teaming software to allow two or more cards to function as a single virtual device. Teaming of NICs generally provides for additional bandwidth, load balancing and failover redundancy the team. In some instances, as many as eight NICs are grouped as a single team using teaming software and controlled via the LOM.
Whether coupled as a member of a team or individually, each NIC generally establishes a physical connection or link to an external device. Typically, an optical fiber or an eight-conductor data cable such as a CAT-6 wire is used to establish the link. Because reliable data transmission at high speeds are required over these connections such as 1.0 gigabits per second, each link must meet or exceed a minimum level of channel characteristics.
At present, connection tests generally are limited to link status. Because link status is typically based on whether a single pair of wires is connected and does not check all connections or the quality of the transmission of all connections. Transmission errors and connection quality can be below the minimum level of channel characteristics even though the link is established as verified by the link status.